The Bengal government on Friday formed a 12-member board of administrators to run the Siliguri Municipal Corporation with outgoing CPM mayor Asok Bhattacharya as the chairperson, but he refused to take up the post until and unless five Trinamul Congress councillors were dropped from the body.

The BoA was constituted as the five-year tenure of the Left Front-run board at the SMC would end on May 17.

In the order, it was mentioned that Bhattacharya would be the chairperson of the BoA that would have the deputy mayor and all five MMICs (member, mayor in council) as members.

It also said five Trinamul councillors would be on the board. Bhattacharya said the Bengal government was acting in a biased manner.

“At other civic bodies, including the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, none of the Opposition councillors was made members of the BoA. The only exception is the SMC, where Trinamul councillors have been included in the BoA. We condemn it and reject the state’s decision. The order should be withdrawn and the BoA for the SMC should be formed in a similar pattern like other municipalities and corporations,” he said.

Trinamul welcomed the announcement.

Memory click:A rare snap of Bengal chief minister surfaced on Twitter on Thursday when Nivedith Alva, son of senior Congress leader Margaret Alva, posted a picture of Mamata Banerjee clicked 34 years ago. In the picture, Mamata is seen sitting on the ground with Alva and her son during a Lok Sabha versus Rajya Sabha cricket match. A source close to the chief minister said she was very happy to see the picture as she was part of the Lok Sabha team led by P.R. Kumaramangalam and adjudged the best player. “Didi has never bothered to preserve old photographs... This one took her down memory lane as she always enjoyed being part of sporting activities,” said the source. Sourced by the Twitter

“The state has taken the right decision by constituting the BoA in due time so that civic services do not get disrupted during the coronavirus pandemic. It is expected to run the civic body from May 18. The decision has been made according to law and we welcome it,” said Ranjan Sarkar, who is also the Darjeeling (plains) district Trinamul chief.

On Friday, the state also came up with a similar order, announcing formation of a BoA for the Trinamul-run Jalpaiguri municipality.

Papiya Paul, the vice-chairperson of the civic board, has been made the chairperson of the BoA, with all four members, chairman-in-council — Saikat Chatterjee, Biswajit Sarkar, Sandip Mahato and Nipu Saha —as members.

Mohan Bose, the civic chairman, has not been included in the BoA. This might be because of his health condition, said sources.